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Rikku
|motion_actor= |weapon= |race=Al Bhed |home=Bikanel Island }} Rikku is a fictional character in the Final Fantasy series. She was created by Tetsuya Nomura and is voiced by Marika Matsumoto in Japanese and by Tara Strong in English. She first appears in Final Fantasy X as one of its protagonists, where she accompanies her cousin Yuna and others along her journey as one of her guardians. She later appears as a protagonist in the direct sequel, Final Fantasy X-2, as one of only two characters from the first game to serve in that capacity on a journey to find Final Fantasy X protagonist Tidus. She was featured in X-2 as one of only three female protagonists because the designers wanted to make a game about women. Her outfit was changed in X-2 to reflect the cultural change that occurred between the two games. She received generally positive reception, with her X-2 design receiving praise for its attractiveness, though Game Informer noted that people shouldn't sexualize Rikku due to her being underage. Concept and creation Rikku was created by Tetsuya Nomura for Final Fantasy X. She is a 15-year-old Al Bhed girl who is Cid's daughter and Brother's younger sister. It was reported that she may get her own game code-named "Rikku Version." However, this was later confirmed to not be in the works. Rikku, along with Yuna, were the only characters taken from Final Fantasy X to be the leads in Final Fantasy X-2. She was chosen in order to create a game that was about women. Tetsu Tsukamoto, designer of Final Fantasy X-2 s alternate costumes, explained that her outfit was the product of a cultural change in Spira, the world Rikku inhabits. The staff also wished to demonstrate the cast as more active. She is voiced by Marika Matsumoto in Japanese and by Tara Strong in English, while she had motion capture performed by Miyuki Shimizu for Final Fantasy X and by Natsuho Matsuda for Final Fantasy X-2. Strong was offered an audition by Final Fantasy X casting director Jack Fletcher. Before her audition, Strong was given recordings of the Japanese version of Rikku and a description of the character. Many of her lines ended with "you know" in order to match the English dub with the character's mouth movements, particularly to end the sentence with a vowel sound. They decided to make this a vocal tic for her. The HD remaster of Final Fantasy X-2 featured occasional Japanese lines portrayed by Strong due to Square wanting the voice actresses to record Japanese lines during battle. Appearances Rikku first appears in Final Fantasy X as one of its protagonists. She helps Tidus when he first arrives in Spira, but then disappears during an attack from Sin. Upon meeting Tidus again at the Moonflow, she becomes the last character to join Yuna's entourage of guardians. Her attitude is somewhat childish but is also quite cheerful and positive. She is afraid of lightning because when she was attacked by a fiend at the beach when she was young, her brother tried to destroy it with a Thunder spell, but missed and electrocuted her instead. Cid's sister married Braska, which makes him Rikku's uncle, and also makes her Yuna's cousin, and as such, wishes to prevent her from going through with her pilgrimage as summoners die after defeating Sin. Rikku returns in Final Fantasy X-2 as a protagonist, now 17 years old. She is also the one who convinces Yuna to leave Besaid on a journey along with newcomer Paine after showing her a mysterious sphere featuring a person resembling Tidus. Rikku appears in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call as a playable character. Her appearance resembles as a chibi-esque version of her Final Fantasy X-2 character. Rikku also appears alongside Yuna and Paine in Kingdom Hearts II as a miniature fairy version of herself wearing modified versions of her Final Fantasy X-2 attire. Itadaki Street Special features a miniature Rikku in her Final Fantasy X-2 outfit, along with Yuna and Paine. Rikku also appears as a non-playable character in World of Final Fantasy. Merchandise Rikku, along with Paine and Yuna, received a series of singles performed by Marika Matsumoto in a collection called "Final Fantasy X-2 Vocal Collection - Rikku". Rikku, along with Yuna and Paine, had figurines produced by Play Arts. They were the first figurines Play Arts produced in-house. Reception . Her design change was the subject of discussion for her designers and critics.|alt=]] Rikku has received generally positive reception since appearing in ''Final Fantasy X and X-2. Famitsu readers ranked her as one of the best video game characters. She was voted by Final Fantasy fans as the 13th best female Final Fantasy character. She has been identified as one of the most attractive female characters in and outside of the series by IGN, Play, UGO, and G4TV readers. Complex identified her outfit as the main reason to play Final Fantasy X-2. Game Informer was critical of sexualization of Rikku, noting her as being only 16. They identified her as a character they would like to be around due to an abundance of positive energy. Digitally Downloaded noted that her outfit in Final Fantasy X-2 was fanservice, adding however that it was used to demonstrate that the society in her world had been liberated from conservative values. They enjoyed her character, noting she was their ideal rogue character and praised her for her uplifting attitude. Despite enjoying her "bubbly personality" in the face of hardships, they felt that there was not much more to her and felt people were too focused on her outfit. They found her a highlight of Final Fantasy X and hoped to see her in Dissidia Final Fantasy. CNET felt Rikku was a highly underrated character, noting that she was known for her outfit and "being scared" more than her engineering prowess. Houston Press expressed disappointment that the story of Final Fantasy X focused so much on Tidus, noting how much more interesting the relationship between Rikku and Yuna was. Tara Strong was awarded Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance -- Female for her portrayal of Rikku by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Game Informer identified Rikku as one of Strong's most notable roles. References Category:Characters designed by Tetsuya Nomura Category:Female characters in video games Category:Fictional bodyguards in video games Category:Fictional bounty hunters Category:Fictional explorers in video games Category:Fictional fairies and sprites Category:Fictional knife-fighters Category:Fictional melee weapons practitioners Category:Fictional professional thieves Category:Fictional vehicle operators Category:Final Fantasy characters Category:Kingdom Hearts characters Category:Square Enix protagonists Category:Teenage characters in video games Category:Video game characters introduced in 2001 Category:Video game characters who use magic